So
wrote Geoffrey Corbett the first Hon. Secretary
of the Club, in his article in Vol.1 of the
(HC) was founded on
17th February 1928 in the room of Field Marshall
Sir William Birdwood, the then Commander-in-Chief
of the Indian Army.
The idea of
the Club took shape in Simla when Sir Geoffrey
Corbett took the initiative in the matter.
Sir Geoffrey was a member of I.C.S. and held
the post of Secretary for Industry in the
Government of India. He wrote to Major Kenneth
Mason of the Survey of India and the Chief
of Army Staff who also showed great keenness.
Corbett and Mason drew up a list of all the
most important people that they could think
of as connected with the Himalaya and invited
them to be founder members of the club. A
list of 127 founder members contained Sir
Thomas Holdisch who pioneered the survey of
the frontiers, Sir Francis Younghusband who
crossed the Gobi Desert to enter India through
the Muztagh Pass in Karakoram, Brig. Gen.
Bruce of the Gurkhas, Brig. Gen. Sir George
Cockell of the Survey of India, Sir Martin
Conway, Norman Collie, Douglas Freshfield,
Sir Aurel Stein, Duke of Abruzzi, Sir Pilippo
de Filippi, the Duke of Spoleto, Mr. Visser
of the Dutch Foreign Service. In India founders
included the Vicerey Lord Irwin, Governor
of the Punjab Sir Herbert Emerson, Surveyor
General Brigadier Tandy, Director of Archaeological
Survey, Sir Edwin Pascoe, General Sir Alexander
Lobbe C-I-C Northern Command, Raja of Jubbal,
Field Marshal Sir William Birdwood, Bast.
Commander-in-Chief who readily agreed to be
the President of the Club.
From these small
beginnings the Himalayan Club (HC) started
helping the expeditions coming from abroad.
It supplied information, arranged porters
and sometimes members of the club accompanied
the teams to smoothen out things. Paul Bauer’s
two famous German expeditions to Kangchenjunga
were a case in the point. Many other expeditions
owned a debt to HC in those days.
With the Independence
of India in 1947 gradually all the Britishers
left India. But HC was well served by Indian
members and those who stayed in India. Today,
after 62 years, still the largest membership
of the club is from England. More than 75%
members of the club reside abroad amongst
them some of the finest mountaineers in their
times and at present.
With times role
of HC has changed drastically. Permission,
liaison officers and other official work are
no longer handled by the club. In fact, during
the sixties there was even a talk of winding
up the club. But every crisis has its hero.
So it was Soli Mehta who kept this international
club alive by performing many functions with
some local help from Calcutta like K.K. Guha
and M.L. Biswas. By early 1971 Club’s
headquarters were moved to Bombay. Jagdish
Nanavati who took over as Hon. Secretary displayed
great concern and enthusiasm with Gulab Ramchandani,
Aspie Moddie and K. N. Naoroji. It was largely
due to the efforts of such stalwarts that
by the time the Club was 50 years old in 1978
it was on a very firm footings.
Himalayan Club
and the Indian Mountaineering Foundation
With the formation
of the Indian Mountaineering Foundation at
New Delhi the role of HC changed. When IMF
published its own Indian
Mountaineer it was even suggested that
the Himalayan Journal
(HJ) should be wound up ! But both continues
to flourish. IMF with the Government patronage,
functions as a semi-Government body to issue
permits, arrange liaison officers and perform
all the official functions. HC continues to
be the custodian of the knowledge about the
Himalaya. With many leading mountaineers on
its rolls HC has a wide recognition as the
international body in the sport. Indian
Mountaineer is now 35 issues old (in
22 years); while HJ is about to publish its
58th issue in 74 years. In fact editors of
both the publications have worked in close
co-operation. Both the organisations, like
the publications, have also enjoyed a great
rapport.
H.C. Sarin,
who retired as the President of IMF after
23 years, is also a Honorary member of the
Club. In his farewell speech to the IMF he
said “The Himalayan Club is more than
60 years old and has world wide affiliations.
It has been doing commendable work. Its journal
is recognised as possessing a high standard,
we rightly raised no bogey of competition
with it, in fact helped it and have been giving
it our co-operation and support. I consider
that this policy must continue.”
Though in search
of truth and records, sometimes these two
great organisations have had their differences.
But both in a close co-operation have been
serving the same cause in different ways.
Dr. M.S. Gill the last President of IMF is
today the President of the Himalayan Club
member. Thus both the organisation can look
forward to much closer association.
It had a string of great editors. Maj. Kenneth
Mason of Survey of India was the first editor
who produced HJ for 14 years. He set very
high standards and when expeditions were few
he gave a scholarly outlook to the publication.
Mason set up a tradition that others continued.
C.W.F. Noyce H.W. Tobin, T.H. Braham and Dr.
K. Biswas were some editors who followed.
Soli S. Mehta who took over editorship in
1967 brought fresh ideas and energies. He
gave HJ a face lift and introduced many changes.
Soli Mehta produced 11 issues before his untimely
death in 1989. R. E. Hawkins was responsible
for strengthening of HJ. As the Hon. Asst.
Editor he set up editorial traditions and
brought HJ in line with the other modern publications.
Now a team of enthusiasts under editors Harish
Kapadia and Monesh Devjani continue the HJ
tradition.
The Himalayan
Club News letter was started in 1951 to give
brief information about events in the mountaineering
world to HC members. Over the years and under
Soli S. Mehta in particular it gathered strength
and became a major reference work. It had
a face lift in 1985 under Harish Kapadia and
55 issues are published till 2002. It continues
to flourish.
The Himalayan
Club library is also an institution by itself.
With more than 2000 books , handwritten manuscripts
and many magazines it is a major store-house
of knowledge. After being shifted from Shimla
to Calcutta and to Delhi, it finally rests
at India International Centre at Delhi with
sub-libraries at Bombay and Calcutta. It is
continually up dated with new books. Soli
S. Mehta library was started at Bombay recently
based on a large number of books donated from
late Soli Mehta’s collection.
The Himalayan
Club came of an age when it celebrated the
Golden Jubilee in 1978. A series of lectures
and exhibitions at Bombay, Delhi and Calcutta
attracted many mountain lovers. HC was 60
years old in 1988. Far from being in the age
of superannuation HC showed great vigour and
in the celebrations Stephen Venables (UK)
attracted large crowds at Bombay. Charles
Houston (USA) was the chief guest at Delhi
symbolising the international character of
the club.
Soli S. Mehta
and Harish Kapadia (editors of HJ) produced
the book Exploring the Hidden Himalaya to
celebrate the Diamond Jubilee. In a rare fitting
gesture HC distributed a copy free to its
900 strong memberships as a memento.
Many great mountaineers
from the world over has addressed the Club
over the years. Eric Shipton, Doug Scott,
Pertemba Sherpa, Capt. M.S. Kohli and H. Adams
Carter to mention only the few of them.
The Himalayan
Club has network of Hon. Local Secretaries
world wide. They are the knowledgeable mountaineers
who supply information to members in their
respective countries and inform the Club about
their activities. Annual Dinners at London
where many famous mountaineers attend has
become an important milestone. HC has many
Hon. Local Secretaries in India, particularly
in the Himalayan foot hills who continue to
guide and help climbers there. Mandip Singh
Soin, Hon. Local Secretary at Delhi has organised
regular lectures and other activities. Bangalore
Section is likewise active under Deepak Arya.
Apart from this
the Club has a good store of trekking equipment
which is offered to members. Maps of the Himalayan
regions, mountaineering reference books, video
film library, are amongst many other things
the Club offers.
To fulfil the
role envisaged by the founding fathers, HC
has over the years, developed these various
facilities. It’s Hon. Local Secretaries
and others at headquarters continue to provide
information on many aspects. The amount of
work done by the volunteers is enough to keep
an office busy.
To greet the new Century the Himalayan Club
presented a copy of A
Passage to Himalaya selections from
the all the past volumes of the Himalayan
Journal—to all its members.
Standing second from
left, Ang Tsering, Nawang Gombu &
Togbay Sherpa in Mumbai |
Honouring
Sherpa ‘Tigers’
The Himalayan
Club, fulfilling its historic role,
awarded the "Tiger's Badge"
to those Sherpas who had achieved outstanding
success in mountains. The badge was
awarded only to a select few, judged
by many criteria.
HC records
of the Sherpas, which were instituted
by H.W. Tobin with the founding of the
Club in 1928, were maintained as one
of the chief occupations of Tobin's
successors as Hon Local Secretary in
Darjeeling. The Club organized a special
function in Darjeeling to honour all
legendary Sherpas alive in Darjeeling
then (December 2000) , a fitting tribute
to their long association of the Club
with them. |
Then at the turn of the new Millennium, in
February 2001, the Himalayan Club had invited
these Sherpas at this special gathering to
honour the last three living recipients of
the Himalayan Club Tiger Badge. They are Ang
Tsering (nearly 100 years in age), Nawang
Gombu and Tobgay Sherpa.
Ang Tsering was on the expedition to Everest
in 1924 when Irvine and Mallory were lost
near the summit. In fact he is the only surviving
participant of that pre-War expedition. He
was also on Nanga Parbat when Will Merkl died
in a storm. He was awarded German Order of
Red Cross personally signed by Adolf Hitler.
Nawang Gombu
is the most honoured and celebrated Sherpa
in India today who has climbed Everest twice,
the first person to do so. He is Honorary
member of the Alpine Club, London. He has
also received many National Awards and honours.
His association with the Club is long.
Tobgay Sherpa
has been an instructor at mountaineering Institutes,
both at Darjeeling and Uttarkashi. There are
many mountaineers who has learnt their early
mountain craft from him.
This was a special
function to honour these great names in mountaineering
by the Himalayan Club and important event
in the history of the Club.
Every year in February the club organises
a special seminar, lectures series and film
festivals for its members and others. Such
functions are also organised in Delhi and
Bangalore also. Last year Kurt Diemberger
of Italy and Yoshio Ogata of Japan were invited
as special guests and drew large crowds. Later
the ‘Kathmandu Mountain Film Festival’
was screened in Mumbai to packed audiences.
Thus apart from regular lectures such gathering
serve to popularise the club.
The Himalayan
Club continues to gather strength, to fulfil
the stated object of the club. “To encourage
and assist Himalayan travel and exploration
and to extend the knowledge of the Himalayan
and adjoining ranges through science, art,
literature and sport.” As the current
President mentioned in his recent letter,
the Club is “Alive Well and Rules OK”. |
